Chennai, Sep 30 (PTI) During deluge, the government machinery must swiftly work with the goal of averting loss of life, and all requisite equipment and boats should be deployed near low-lying areas well in advance, Chief Minister M K Stalin said here on Monday.
The government has devised a mobile app ‘TN-Alert’ in order to provide people with real-time information on weather and rainfall in Tamil and it will help them plan precautionary measures accordingly. Weather forecast, amount of rainfall received and storage in dams forms part of info that could be accessed from the mobile app.
Stalin, chairing a high-level meeting at the Secretariat over measures to tackle Northeast monsoon rains (October-December) said that during recent times, due to climate change, very heavy rainfall is received within a short time (which should have been spread over the whole season).
Last year, during the same monsoon season, Chennai, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts received unprecedented rainfall and the affected districts returned to normalcy as the state tackled the situation efficiently. This year too, the government has been taking several precautionary measures and the state chief secretary this month conducted a meeting of officials which includes district collectors and police superintendents.
Cities including Chennai should be very careful and for the Greater Chennai Corporation localities, area-based flood warning system has been set up. The CM recalled that he inaugurated the upgraded state emergency control centre here on August 28 in order to disseminate weather/monsoon data then and there.
It is possible to avert large-scale damage when people are updated at the right time on weather forecast. Since such forecast are important in tackling disasters, the government is paying special attention to improve infrastructure. When compared with the previous control centre, the upgraded facility is functioning with a technology team comprising multidisciplinary experts and a coordination centre which brings together inter-departmental officials.
Only if real-time data is ascertained on the amount of rainfall, could various tasks like flood warning and management of water discharge from dams could be performed well. Hence, now 1,400 automatic rain gauges and 100 automatic weather stations have been set up and real-time data is being received.
The government has devised a mobile app ‘TN-Alert’ in order to provide people with such information in Tamil which will help them to plan precautionary measures accordingly. The government has taken steps to alert fishermen on cyclone, heavy rains using modern gadgets.
During floods, the government machinery must work expeditiously and the goal must be to ensure that there is not even a single death. All requisite machinery and boats should be moved in advance to places close to low-lying areas.
Deputy CM Udhayanidhi, Ministers, Chief Secretary N Muruganandam and officials took part. PTI VGN ROH
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